‘These are his Bhindi bazaar tactics’: Nawaz Modi says Gautam Singhania using Raymond as ‘personal fiefdom’
Three privately held Raymond Group companies – JK Investors (Bombay), Raymond Consumer Care and Smart Advisory and Finserve have removed Nawaz Modi, the estranged wife of group chairman and MD Gautam Singhania, from their boards amid a bitter settlement dispute post their divorce.
The couple had announced their separation in November 2023.
Though Raymond, the listed entity, has yet to propose her removal, Modi alleges that Singhania is attempting to exert influence over the decision. “These are his ‘Bhindi bazaar’ tactics, as even his father calls it, of strong-arming people in a bid to get them out,” she said.
Modi has challenged her ouster from the boards, saying invalid grounds were used to make the move. “They are (using) invalid grounds for my removal. Has the major shareholder promotor lost his confidence in me for doing my job, doing my duty? He (Gautam Singhania) has lost his confidence in me because I am calling him out. I am going to be detailing these points,” Modi told India Today.
Modi-Singhania was director in JKI in June, 2015, in RCCL in December 2020 and Smart Advisory & Finserve in October, 2017 respectively.
“This is his way of operating. Even all the AGMs are always held in Ratnagiri, so people or shareholders are not able to get there,” Modi said.
“These are his ‘Bhindi bazaar’ tactics, as even his father calls it, of strong-arming people in a bid to get them out,” she added.
Nawaz Modi, who demanded 75% of Gautam Singhania’s total net worth as part of the divorce settlement, said she wants her daughters to get 25%.
“It is $1.4 billion on paper. My father-in-law, Dr Vijaypat Singhania, says I should be getting 50% of his wealth while Gautam (Singhania) should keep the other 50%. But I want 25% for my daughters Niharika and Nysa,” she said.
On her estrangement with Gautam Singhania, Nawaz Modi said that things became problematic when she became a ‘whistleblower’ and started calling out Gautam’s ‘misdeeds’ and ‘mismanagement’ in running the company.
“He uses the company as his personal fiefdom. In fact, our personal problems arose just because I was already aware of too many of his misdeeds by then, and I was calling them out,” Nawaz claimed.